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Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 5.1: Clotho


Joani

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The Mutants got transported via private jet to the HQ located in Las Vegas. From above they could see that the city had suffered serious damage but parts had already been rebuilt. This city refused to simply die.

As the plane descended approaching Nellis Airforce Base they saw that the area around the former MIC completely levelled. Heavy construction vehicles were clearing the site and people were already starting to make plans how to rebuilt that area.

During the flight the Secretary gave more details about their new 'job'.

"Your starting salary will be 100.000 US Dollars per month. The HQ we've constructed will provide you with housing and any other luxury you may request. It also serves as centre of intelligence, training facility and recreation area. You can of course spent your freetime in Vegas various pleasure domes, of course.", she winked at the men and smiled.

"Your liasions officer will be myself for the start until we've found someone more adequate for the job. You will be given free hand to organize yourselves and find your spokesperson for public affairs, resources, intelligence, etc. You report directly to the President which will be handled most of the time be me, or your liasions officer once we found someone suitable. You'll be given a full free month before your first assignment - you should make yourself acquainted with the facility and have your organisation structure by then. In case of questions contact me. I try to answer your call ASAP."

The plane touched ground and the follow up transport took them to downtown Las Vegas right to the Luxor. The two SUV's that transported the whole group got into the extensive underground garage. Once the vehicles stopped the familiar sound of hydraulics was heard as the elevator transported them to the lower levels.

What presented them was straight out of a science fiction movie. The HQ was beyond description. The sterile smell of 'new' was in the air and their steps made echoing sounds through interior.

"Welcome to your new home.", Ms. Storm proclaimed boldly extending her arms like wings to the sides.

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Sly wasn't sure how he felt about all this. It was very nice and no expense had been spared, but it also meant they would easily be tracked living in the facility. Being watched so closely was only a small step from being controlled. As for the money he'd nearly laughed out loud. He could make a $100k in a night in Vegas, money was literally no incentive for him. The future on the other hand was important and it might be that the best way to ensure they had a future was to stay, he just hated to be so publicly exposed. Given time if the public knew what he could do he'd be a target again, hero or not. It was bad enough that Mutant Division knew and that was something he was going to have to see to eventually.

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Holy Fuck! was all Tim could think when told how much a month they would make every month. For someone who was as young as he was, it was a fortune. He could buy the fastest computer imaginable and have a giant plasma TV on which to play the latest console game system. He could have his own library (with his own personal librarian who wears a tight white shirt and...Rawr!) Tim had to nip that imagery before it got out of hand.

Upon seeing their new digs, Tim realized that all of them were going to live the good life. For Tim, it was a dream come true. Every nerd-filled fantasy came true in this place, and his eyes misted with tears. Immediately, he began to scout the place. At this point, Tim was oblivious to anyone or any external stimuli other than that of the HQ. Tim's entire universe had a population of 1.

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While the others oohed and aahed over the fancy headquarters to greedily counted dollars signs Travis simply rolled his eyes. What good is a fortune and limitless toys when your past has been stolen? There are things that cannot be bought and that you do not appreciate until they are gone. Travis looked at Ronnie, to his eyes and in his mind she was now layered with the image of Raven, they two were linked in ways he didn't fully understand just as he was linked in different ways to each of them in turn. Is it possible that my memories will change my feelings? Will my memory of Ronnie deepen our friendship? Will my memory as Thomas revive my ... his? ... love for Raven? Travis' expression soured as he looked around the lavish high tech space. "Fuck this noise," he muttered under his breath, They can't buy me off. They expect us to fight and die for humanity; the same humanity that would have been happy to eradicate us this time last year.

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Ronnie was tired, sick and heartbroken, or at least heartbruised. Travis' muttered curse dragged her mind away from herself, but only a little. She was reaching the point where she was going to have to rest, or things were going to get messy.

"What's up?" she whispered, leaning close. "Wanna grab the kids and blow this joint?"

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Tom looked out the windows as they came into Las Vegas, shocked to see how extensive the damage to the city was, but heartend by the obvious signs of reconstruction. He was also slightly stunned by the new HQ, seeing the variety of high tech toys in one place at the same time, some of which had been pre-production the last time he had been able to check the tech sites.

However, his first action on arriving was to find a phone and check on his dad. His face lights up with relief as his father answers the phone, but he keeps the conversation very brief and quiet. Once done, he looks around the responces of the rest of the group and heads over to Morgan.

"Well Sly, I guess our days on the stage are over for a while."

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Travis shook his head, "This is wrong. This whole thing, it's just another way to control us. They offer the illusion of choice but really in the end they are still making us their little soldiers to go off and fight for them. But they made their choice, they want to do this, or they think they do anyways. Maybe they do, maybe its even worth doing, but that doesn't make this any less an MIC than the last ones.

"As for me, I need his help," he pointed to Morgan. "Unless your other, other, other, other," he paused as though counting, "Other? Half has decided to be cooperative."

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Sly nodded to Travis. "Yeah, I agree it is another way to control us. Question is what do we do if we refuse? We can't just let the aliens win so we'd fight anyway. Might as well ride the horse instead of letting it ride you."

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Simon was looking around with an awestruck expression, and nodded to Sly in apparent agreement. Softly he said, "Although if you'd like to test the bars of our gilded cage, there's no one stopping you."

He looked around quietly for a few more minutes, the smiled. "For myself, I'm going to take the time to enjoy sleeping in the same bed each night for a while and knowing that the next meal isn't something that has to be filched or begged for. After that, I figure there'll be a lot of fighting and chaos and many unpleasant things. Then again, those will come whether I'm here or sleeping in the pews of some random church and rummaging through Good Will bins for a coat or new pants." He shrugged and glanced at the couple that seemed so fractious with everyone but each other. "I'd rather be rested and ready when they come back. We're not going back in one of their ships unless it's to blow the damn thing to hell."

His tone was cold death at the end of that, but the sinister atmosphere lasted only until he became distracted by another passing wonder in their glittering new corral.

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"It's not like they're forcing us to stay here. I can any of you anywhere you like if you want. My hometown was trashed, everything I kne is either gone or probably beyond the point that I can go back to, so right now I'm going to accept their offer at face value and give the same effort here that I did to teaching my students, and to everything I've done since."

She smiled. "We all agreed to this, let's make the best of it."

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Ms Storm went to the main control interface and typed in a few commands. Then she spoke, "All security settings and command controls will be transfered to the new staff of this facility. Eve, please make a full biometric scan of the mutants and assign them to the security settings. Full access on my authority."

There was a brief humming sound and then everything went silent again. An artificial female voice responded with a cold undertone, "Scan completed."

"Good - Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy your stay here. If you need to contact me, let Eve establish a secure line to my phone. I will try to respond as fast as possible. I will now leave and give you some time to be private and make yourselves comfortable. Don't break anything... please."

Ms Storm walked back to the elevator and gave the mutants one last chance to say something before she hit the button.

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Juno's reaction to the base is...complex, though not obviously. At least not outside, not at first. No sooner do they see the foyer that the elevator opens up into than she shouts, "Holy shit!" and is off running into the complex to explore.

For the next several minutes, as everyone talked and exchanged dour suspicions, the pounding of young footsteps could be heard crisscrossing the place as Juno charged from one room to the next. Sometimes an exclamation of delight could be heard as well. These sounds grew farther away as the discussion progressed.

Just as Storm was about to leave, Juno came bursting through one of the doors she hadn't left through, a little out of breath...which meant she must have been practically sprinting all this time.

"Man," she said with a broad grin. "This place is going to be a BITCH to clean up! It's like a mall without the stores! You guys have to see this shit!"

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Once given the clearance Tom heads straight to a display, "Eve, can you display a floorplan for us. Also I guess we could do with some mobile phones, some walking around money, an indication of any quarters that might already be assigned to us, and wherever we should go to pick up any other miscellaneous things we might need."

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On the screen appeared a vaguely female face and spoke to Tom.

"Voice recognition affirmative. Display Floorplan - main floor."

On another screen a floorplan in 3D appeared marking the position of all Mutants. The area was huge and it seemed Juno was right about one thing - it'll be a bitch keep this place clean.

"The requested items can be found in the Armory. Once you access one private quarter I will mark it as yours. Waypoint to the Armory set."

The voice echoed through the room and then she was silent.

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Tom looks around the room at the others, "Well, it looks like I'm off to the Armoury, although why anyone would store mobile phones there is beyond me. Anyone coming along?"

He pauses briefly in case anyone answers immediately, but otherwise shrugs and heads in the direction indicated on the floor plan.

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"Sure!" Juno says, peering at the map. "I couldn't get in that door before. Didn't have the code."

She looks back at Adrian and Travis and Ronnie. "You guys should come along. The floor under all the bedrooms there's like a whole athletics club with a swimming pool and everything. They even have a bowling alley!"

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Sly followed along. He wanted to see the offensive and defensive gadgets. If he were going to be a target, it would be nice to be able to defend himself.

Out of curiosity he reached out mentally to try and make contact with the AI. It might be made of circuitry, but if it was really conscious and not just a program he might be able to read it.

Click to reveal..

1st die mega, dropping one mega to avoid virus.

(18:23:52) ChatBot: (sly) rolls 11d10 and gets 7,3,3,9,3,5,5,7,8,9,9.

7 successes.

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Ronnie sighed. "I think I'm going to pass on the armory, folks. Seen one super-high-tech armory and you've seen them all." She glanced at the map, and said, "Yo, Eve... which room is mine?"

As Eve displayed it, Ronnie shrugged apologetically to Juno, Sly and Adrian. "I'm still sick, guys. I need a nap, bad, or I'm not going to be walking around soon."

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Eventually, Tim's self-imposed fascinaed isolation eneded, and he found himself in a spacious bedroom that lacked windows. It was perfect. A lack of windows would make for less distractions.

Mentally, Tim began to organize how he would set up the room's amenities. Once he'd locked the image of how he was going to det up the room, he went to the armory in search of computer (and gaming) equipment. If he was to find out what happened in the 3 months they were gone, he would have to do the research himself. Of course, he would need his 'down time', and for that he would need either a gaming consule or some games for the computer. Any books he wanted he could order online- if that was still posssible.

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Tim found the armory to be haven on earth - at least from a nerd/geek point of view. The equipment available was mindblowing. He quickly 'scavanged' the desired hardware and started to assemble everything in his room. The only thing that would keep him forever locked up in his room would be a quality pizza delivery but he knew that wouldn't happen - but it was close enough to being perfect.

After he logged in to the internet he found that the net was back without restriction. Lots of blogs reported about the alien invasion with all kinds of pictures and some looked really fake. The general gist of things were still unbelievable. The last 3 months had seen a full scale global war which drove off the aliens from most of the countries which had large MICs. Only Germany and Southamerica were left on the strategic map as the last bastion of alien invaders and a huge spaceship/station kind of thing that orbited over Germany and which was large enough to be seen from earth without the need for a telescope.

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Annalise selected a private quarter from the floor plan and made her way to her room. She checked her closet and noted that it had some very basic clothing. Satisfied she stripped and ran a hot bath and got in to relax.

"My God, what have we all gotten ourselves into?"

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Juno gave Ronnie a disappointed look, but nodded. "Alright. I'm gonna show Trav and Adrian around." She moved between the two men and took hold of each one's sleeve. "Sleep tight. Get better. I'll give you the tour when you wake up."

She grinned saucily at her entourage. "So where do you guys want to see first?"

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Grav looks around at the response and starts laughing, a practical roar of laughter. Inwardly her worst fears were born out. They could hear everything that was said and ostensibly record it all too. This was truly a gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.

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He flew through the websites and blogs as fast he could get the pages to reload. There was a lot of information on the invasion and subsequent war. Tim's mind photographed and stored each site for recall. Between the loading of each page, he sifted through the fluff, mis-information, lies, conspiracies and facts. That there was still a sizeable alien presence was not unexpected. Since he already knew that there was a link to the Nazi's of WWII, the fact that the alien ships were over South America and Germany only fueled his speculations.

Germany was the center of Nazi power in WWII and South America was where they fled after Germany lost the war.

Not satisfied with the information gleaned from the 'civilian' internet, Tim decided to see just how much information they were privvy to. "Computer?" Tim said giddily, doing a horrible impersonation of Dr. Scott from Star Trek. "Can I see all the files that the FBI, CIA, and other world agencies have on the aliens, their weaponry, and recent locations? Also include Boolean searches with 'AND', 'OR' and NOT' of all articles, individuals and organizations associated with any of the above files."

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Eve's face briefly appeared on all screens in Tim's room before she acknowledged his command started the search.

After a short moment the screens filled with information:

Click to reveal..
OOC: For brevities sake I stick to 'hard facts'

3 'Types' of aliens have been identified so far. The robot/terminator, the tall and long limbed 'classical' aliens and the very muscled for armed and red eyed 'green skins'.

The Robots were protecting the dropships that took control of the MICs and patrolled the immediate area.

The real ground forces of the aliens seem to be the green skins. They've been encountered in far greater numbers than the robots.

The 'classical' aliens seem to be the leaders of the invasion since they control the robots and the green skins.

The Robots have very advanced weaponry and are capable of stopping main battle tanks alone.

The green skins are very resilient and can take several shots from heavy calibre rounds before they die. They are usually armed with plasma rifles and swords/axes for close combat. Their combat style is very savage and brutal.

Currently there are two 'motherships' in orbit. One is right above Germany, the other one over Argentina (if you draw a direct line one ship remains in exact distance to Berlin while the other does the same to Buenos Aires).

The Motherships have demonstrated to be able to use weapons similar to tactical nukes. They've already destroyed several small cities and 3 aircraft carrier with a single shot.

The only acitivity of spacecraft has been between the motherships and the moon. There is no intel on those ships and what they are doing.

Parts of the global network are still inaccessible or heavily jammed by the alien communication system. International calls with celphones is not possible, only landlines work. Sat-systems like Sky-DSL are offline, same goes to Sat-TV.

There are no more MCIs except for in Germany and Southamerica. All other facilities have been either destroyed or put out of business. The Mutant bodycount is... intimidating. Estimates go as high as 80% have been killed or are reported missing/abducted by the aliens.

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Sly followed the others to the Armory and picked out a cellphone and asked Eve, "Are there any weapons available to us that can damage the aliens? Also are there any small compact weapons that I could carry around that would give me decent protection from terrestrial opponents? Specifically, I'd like some kind of pistol that I can carry that will have good stopping power but won't weigh me down. Have we developed any energy weapons or anything cool like that?"

While Sly waited for the answer he considered his next move. He was going to need some time to gather the intel he needed. Intel that the team needed, he mentally corrected himself. It was going to be hard to get used to thinking of others but if he was going to survive he would need to rely on them. He also needed to have a chat with Travis and Ronnie.

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Predictably, perhaps, Travis and Adrian had different goals in mind. Adrian went to the armory with the others, and Juno tagged along, curious about this mysterious cornucopia of stuff. While the others quizzed the house's AI on various matters, Juno just shopped idly around through the storeroom, picking things up, looking them over, and putting them back. Eventually she picked out a backpack and started loading it up.

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"Eve." Tim said, though this time using his normal voice. "I want a copy of all the relevant datadownloaded on a zip drive. Chronologically and by type. Start with national intelligence and collate the files by these priorities." Tim entered a few commands telling the computer how and in what way he wanted the files. "I want these files stored as Tim007." For safe measure he added a security code: Zulu-Six-Romeo-Nine.

After getting all the data sorted and downloaded, he went in search of his colleagues. Predictably, he found them still milling about in the armory. That is where he would be if he had not had to gather the information they all needed.

"Hey guys, " Tim spoke to the rest of them. "I did some research and I have gathered some information we need to see." Due to his ability to absorb large amounts of information at lightning speed, and his ability to set up his equipment at an incredible clip, only 20 minutes or so had passed.

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Savannah had glanced at her twin and shrugged slightly, looking a bit less impressed at all the technological wizardry than her brother had, but still grateful - at least for now - for a place to stay. With a silent interaction between them, the twins went ahead and followed the others to the armory, and Savannah was looking around curiously at all the room had to offer when Tim made his announcement. She glanced up at him, looking a bit puzzled.

"Okay.. what's the information about?"

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While his sister kept track of Tim and his new information, Simon made his way over to one of the terminals in the room and asked quietly, "Eve do you have access to the survivor lists? Or the dead or missing lists, for Las Vegas?"

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Eve's artificial voice answered without emotion. "I have full access to the survivor lists world wide. Displaying Las Vegas now."

The list was... intimidating. By the looks of it at least half of the population has gone missing or are dead. The names Simon was looking for didn't show up, though.

"Do you want to access other lists or want me to make a search for someone specifically?"

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"Is there a confirmed survivor's list or a current consensus of those living in Las Vegas?"

Savi could feel hope and trepidation flowing for her brother through their link, though his calm and mildly curious expression still hadn't changed.

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Sly looked over at Simon and Savannah and sent, *You know, I might be able to help without you having to reveal who you are looking for to the government. Let me get a good image of your parents from your minds and I can scan for them mentally. No guarantee I can find them among all the people out there, but I can try. Then if I find them I can give you details about them without any risk to your or them.*

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"I have the lists of survivors and the deceased from the MIC's in various locations around the world plus those of the normal populations." Tim turns towards one of the large screens.

"Eve, could you display the data from file Tim007, security code Zulu-Six-Romeo-Nine?"

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Eve's mechanical yet female voice acknowledged Tim's request and displayed the data on the largest screen available:

3 'Types' of aliens have been identified so far. The robot/terminator, the tall and long limbed 'classical' aliens and the very muscled for armed and red eyed 'green skins'.

The Robots were protecting the dropships that took control of the MICs and patrolled the immediate area.

The real ground forces of the aliens seem to be the green skins. They've been encountered in far greater numbers than the robots.

The 'classical' aliens seem to be the leaders of the invasion since they control the robots and the green skins.

The Robots have very advanced weaponry and are capable of stopping main battle tanks alone.

The green skins are very resilient and can take several shots from heavy calibre rounds before they die. They are usually armed with plasma rifles and swords/axes for close combat. Their combat style is very savage and brutal.

Currently there are two 'motherships' in orbit. One is right above Germany, the other one over Argentina (if you draw a direct line one ship remains in exact distance to Berlin while the other does the same to Buenos Aires).

The Motherships have demonstrated to be able to use weapons similar to tactical nukes. They've already destroyed several small cities and 3 aircraft carrier with a single shot.

The only acitivity of spacecraft has been between the motherships and the moon. There is no intel on those ships and what they are doing.

Parts of the global network are still inaccessible or heavily jammed by the alien communication system. International calls with celphones is not possible, only landlines work. Sat-systems like Sky-DSL are offline, same goes to Sat-TV.

There are no more MCIs except for in Germany and Southamerica. All other facilities have been either destroyed or put out of business. The Mutant bodycount is... intimidating. Estimates go as high as 80% have been killed or are reported missing/abducted by the aliens.

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Inside the twin's heads, Sly could feel a surge of relief that he was pretty sure was Savannah's, though it might have been Simon's or even both. They were so hard to tell apart, even mentally. But it was Savannah's voice who "spoke" to him, and so he assumed it must have been a correct estimation.

*That would be.. wonderful. I don't know if you'll be able to find anyone, but.. it would certainly be worth the try. I just.. don't want them to know, you know? Who we really are. Not yet.*

Savannah focused on mental images of their parents. There was a woman with long, almost platinum blonde hair like her children, elegant looking and graceful. Their father was older than their mother by no less than five, but probably no more than ten years or so. He was distinguished looking, but lanky and graceful, much like their mother. His hair was a little darker, with a bit more of a honey-gold shade to it, cropped short and traditional. Of course, Sly got the sense that the images were hazy, as if it had been some time since the twins had pulled them to their memory. It dawned on Sly then that it had been several years since the twins had seen their parents, and that he would probably need to take that into account when trying to search for them.

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Having picked up various odds and ends in the armoury and wandered around the base for a while there was little else Tom had in mind to do and so he happily drifted into the conference room when he heard about the presentation of Tim's data.

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The mutants were watching Eve’s report which actually was Tim’s with silent contemplation. The numbers presented were devastating. 80% of the Mutant community got wiped away or has gone missing since the day they started the fight. Who knew how many would be left once this war was over?

Eve’s voice suddenly spoke up.

“I just received a message from the Secretary – Mr. Kevin Bridges will join the team on behalf of the United Kingdom. He is requesting contact with Mr. Fox and Ms. Gravinski – I can open a direct line to Mr. Bridges anytime you want.

I have come to the conclusion deducting from the requests you have issued, that you are all looking for specific individuals related to you. Given the facts it is likely that these individuals do not live anymore. Further research could proof futile. I suggest concentrating on different matters which have a higher degree of success.”

(ooc: For storytelling sake you are all in the conference room and got some time to rest. Rebecca is still in bed and not feeling well. Ronnie feels ok but still a bit sore as if after a long night of fever. Travis has a minor headache. The rest of the gang is doing ok. Adrian is watching after his sister)

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Tom scowls at the image of the AI before putting on a bland,neutral face and asking, "Can we have a run down of what happend in Germany and South America? Did those countries/areas actually try to get rid of their occupiers or where they too much in the aliens pockets?"

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